As a result of Elon Musk’s initiatives to restrict access to the X platform, more than 100 studies on the social network have been canceled, suspended, or changed, writes Reuters.

We are talking about the restrictions imposed on critical methods for collecting data on X. They have made it impossible to identify the source and ways of spreading false information during real-time events.

One of the most important methods was based on a tool that allowed researchers to access data on 10 million posts every month. However, in February, the social network announced that it would stop providing free access to this API (application programming interface) due to an update to the tool.

X now offers to purchase access to the API at a price ranging from $100 to $42 thousand per month. At the same time, the amount of data on the “cheap” subscription is less than when it was free.

At the request of Reuters, experts from the Coalition for Independent Technology Research estimated the number of studies affected by Elon Musk’s policy. It turned out that 30 projects were canceled, and 47 were slowed down.

Another 47 projects have survived, but some respondents say their ability to collect new data will be limited. In addition, in 27 cases, researchers changed platforms.

Elon Musk’s policy has affected, among other things, projects on hate speech and topics that are under scrutiny by regulators in different countries. One of the projects that stopped was to investigate the safety of children on X.